Unique Roman relic discovered in New Orleans backyard traced to World War II theft

A New Orleans couple unearthed a mysterious Roman relic in their backyard this year — and now, officials know why it ended up there.

The Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (PRCNO) shared the discovery on Oct. 6, detailing how a spring gardening project became an international ordeal. 

Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz were clearing away undergrowth from their historic Carrollton home in March when they hit a marble tablet etched in Latin.

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A picture of the stone shows it partly buried among weeds and dead leaves. Santoro, an anthropologist at Tulane University, promptly contacted local officials. 

An array of experts got involved in the search — from university professors to members of the FBI’s Art Crime Team. They were able to decode the Latin inscription.

The marble relic was an ancient Roman funerary artifact for a sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus. 

The inscription had been missing from a museum in Civitavecchia, Italy, a city some 35 miles north of Rome.

Word eventually reached Erin Scott O’Brien, the former owner of the Carrollton home — who was shocked by the news. 

As it turns out, she had placed the slab in her backyard in 2004.

“We planted a tree and said this is the start of our new house, let’s put it outside in our garden,” O’Brien told PRCNO’s Preservation in Print.

“I just thought it was a piece of art,” she said. “I had no idea it was a 2,000-year-old relic.” 

The previous owners of the stone were O’Brien’s grandparents, Charles and Adele Paddock, who both passed away in the 1980s. 

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Charles Paddock served in Italy during World War II and met his wife there, suggesting the couple may have taken it from Civitavecchia. 

The museum was damaged by Allied bombing in the mid-1940s.

It’s unclear how the Paddocks obtained the stone, but the artifact is currently in FBI custody and will head back to Italy. 

Tulane University professor Susann Lusnia, part of the team who identified the artifact, recently visited the museum in Civitavecchia as part of the repatriation efforts.

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“It’s amazing,” O’Brien said. “It’s wonderful that it’s going back to where it belongs.” 

Preservation in Print editor Daniel Monteverde told Fox News Digital this was one of the most unique stories he’s seen in the Big Easy in his two decades of reporting.

“This is a news town with so much history and color that little is surprising,” he said. “But this may be the most unique story I’ve come across. It was a no-brainer for us to share it when it came across my desk.”

He added, “I’m glad this artifact was found by someone who had the right background to know it was something special and to get it into the hands of the people who could vet it — and, ultimately, return it to its rightful owner.”